Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

Christology

Imitating Jesus Christ, Incarnate God

by John A. Hardon, S.J.

We believe, that the Son of God assumed human flesh, body and soul, and dwelt
among us, like one of us, in order to redeem us. We believe that His divine
nature was substantially united to our human nature. We believe that Jesus Christ
is God who became man and will remain man for the endless

To be a Christian not only in name but in reality, one must believe in the divinity
of Jesus Christ, that He is true God and true man. To be a Christian means to
believe that the Infinite Creator of heaven and earth became a speechless child
who was conceived of His Virgin Mother, born at Bethlehem, died on the Cross,
rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of
His heavenly Father.

Since the dawn of Christianity, the divinity of Christ has been the single
most frequently and strongly challenged mystery of our faith. We say that the
Church is going through the most serious crisis of the twenty centuries of her
history. At the center of this crisis is the widespread doubt and denial that
Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, is the Son of the Living God. There is nothing
else in our Catholic faith that needs to be more clearly understood and firmly
believed than Christ's divinity.

The Testimony of St. John

As we know, the Apostle John was the only one of Christ's apostles who did
not die a martyr's death. He lived until the close of the first century of the
Christian era. All of this was providential to ensure that the beloved disciple
could write his Gospel, letters, and the Book of Revelation. Between Christ's
Ascension and the death of St. John were circulated the earliest heresies which
denied that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

That is why the writings of the fourth evangelist are such a precious treasury
of revealed wisdom testifying to the divinity of the Savior. The Apostle is
so explicit about Christ's oneness with the Father and Christ's divine nature,
that critics of the faith have resorted to dismissing John's writings as Hellenistic
theory superimposed on the simple message of the other three Gospels. The heart
of Christianity is faith in the Incarnation. We believe that the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity became man. We believe the Incarnation is the union of the
Divine and human natures. John begins his Gospel with a prologue that leaves
nothing to the imagination. "In the beginning" says John,"was
the Word, and the Word was God ... and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us" (John 1:1,14).

Even if the Gospel were not the last inspired writing of the Apostle, it was
certainly occasioned by the rise of Gnosticism. The Gnostics claimed to know
the mysteries of the universe. According to them, matter is hostile to spirit.
On these terms, God could not have become man. Why not? Because God, who is
pure spirit, could not have united Himself with a human body. More importantly,
the Gnostic denied an objective divine Revelation that was completed in the
apostolic age and which the Church, founded by Christ, alone has the teaching
authority to interpret decisively the meaning of what God has revealed.

All the errors that are plaguing the modern age are rooted in Gnosticism. That
is why the cardinal heresy among professed Christians is some form of Gnosticism
disguised under a variety of clever names that fill so many books that are supposed
to be Catholic.

It is St. John who records the dialogue between a group of Jews and Jesus.
The Jews picked up heavy stones to throw at Him. So He asked them, "I have
done many good works for you to see; works from my Father; for which of these
are you stoning me?" The would be stoners answered Him, "We are not
stoning you for doing the good work, but for blasphemy: you are only a man,
and you claimed to be God" (John 10:24,33).

The crowning witness to His profession of divinity occurred a week after the
Resurrection. The doubting Thomas was not among the apostles when the Savior
appeared to them on Easter Sunday night. When the others told Thomas that they
have seen the Lord, he stubbornly replied that he would not believe unless he
put his fingers into the wounds in Christ's hands and his hand into Christ's
opened side. A week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples, called Thomas to
Him and asked him to do exactly what Thomas had demanded as a condition for
believing. Thomas repented of his doubt and pronounced the words that by now
have been repeated millions of times by believing Catholics at the elevation
during the Mass. "My Lord and my God," Thomas declared. Human language
could not be more clear. Jesus Christ is our Lord and our God.

Teaching of the Church

Within less than three hundred years after Christ's Ascension, the Christian
world was challenged by a deluge of ideas that questioned Christ's divinity.
These ideas have come down to us as heresies. To protect the faith of believing
Christians, a series of general councils was convened. One after another of
the condemned heresies has survived over the centuries. By now there is no new
heresy undermining the true faith in Christ's divinity. The heretics, who in
our day call themselves "dissidents," are all theological descendants
of Arianism, which was condemned by the first ecumenical Council of Nicea in
325 A. D.

The Council of Nicea issued a Creed which is now part of the Catholic liturgy
throughout the world. It reads:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible and
invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, only-begotten of the
Father, that is , of the substance of the Father, Son of God, Light of Light
true God of true God, being of the same substance with the Father, by whom all
things were made in heaven and on earth, who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made man, suffered, rose again the
third day, ascended into heaven, and He will come to judge the living and the
dead.

The heretic Arius was condemned by the Council of Nicea because he refused
to say that Christ existed from all eternity as God. Ever since Nicea, this
has been the position of all heretics who do not accept Christ's divinity. At
the same time, everyone who not only calls himself a Christian but is
a Christian, firmly believes that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, is the
Son of the infinite God.

Imitation of the Incarnate God

All that we have said so far was a prelude to what is the single most important
premise of Christian sanctity. Thousand of volumes have been written and millions
of words spoken on how to become holy. But all of this literature and verbiage
is only as useful as it is founded on a deep, uncompromising faith in Christ's
divinity.

There is no holiness in the practice of virtue unless the mind is convinced
that the Man from Nazareth is the God who made the universe. The depth of my
conviction that Jesus is God determines the strength of my will to surrender
to the divine will.

God became man for many reasons. Among these reasons is to provide us with
the motivation we need to live a holy life. Christ gives us this motivation
beyond all human calculation. He wants us to follow His example and accept His
teaching so that we might join Him, with the angels and the saints, in a heavenly
eternity.

All of this is beautifully synthesized in the opening paragraphs of Thomas
A Kempis' Imitation of Christ.

He who follows me walks not in darkness, says the Lord. By these words of Christ
we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened
and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to
study the life of Jesus Christ. The teaching of Christ is more excellent than
all the advice of the saints, and he who has His spirit will find in it a hidden
strength. Now, there are many who hear the Gospel often but care little for
it because they have not the spirit of Christ. Yet whoever wishes to understand
fully the words of Christ must strive to pattern his whole life on that of Christ.

If we ask why a clear faith in Christ's divinity is the indispensable foundation
for sanctity, the answer is obvious. What else is sanctity except God-likeness?
God became man precisely to teach us by word and example how we are to become
holy.

Before we go any further, let me be as plain as I can. You might object, "All
I want to do is save my soul. I have no ambition to become a saint." My
reply is, "Sorry, my friend. Whatever was the case in former times, today
you have no choice. Either you strive after sanctity or you will not survive
as a Christian." Pope John Paul II is, dare I use the word, brutally clear
about the necessity for sanctity in today's paganized world. Ours is the age
of martyrs. We must be willing to shed our blood, if need be, to remain faithful
to the Redeemer.

We return to the imitation of Christ.As we know, the imitation of Christ
means the following of Christ. In the last analysis, the following of Christ
means following His example as man in submitting His human will to the divine
will of His heavenly Father. After all the virtues are identified and all the
qualities of sanctity analyzed, what is the one condition for following the
teaching of the Master and imitating His way of life? In Christ's own words,
He tells us, "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me." This
seems difficult for human nature to accept.

But it would much harder to hear that final words "Depart from me you
cursed, into everlasting fire." Those who hear the word of the Cross and
follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation
on the day of judgment. This Sign of the Cross will be in the heavens when the
Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the Cross, who during life made
themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ
the Judge.

This is the sum and substance of the imitation of the Savior. We believe He
is the God of heaven and earth. We believe He became man in order to lead us
to the eternal glory which, as man, He earned by dying on His cross out of love
for us. But we also believe that if we follow His example and accept His teaching
we shall join Him in that everlasting home where He is waiting for us.

Everything depends on our faith in Christ's divinity. We know that God cannot
deceive. We also know that God can only practice the most sublime virtue. That
is why our following of Christ, who is God made man, is the infallible road
to sanctity. This same incarnate God is the source of all the graces we need
to become holy. As He told us, "Without me you can do nothing." Without
His grace, our minds are blind. Without His grace, our wills are helpless to
do what He wants of us to reach that blessed destiny for which we were made.